Wow, did not expect such a severe review to come against this record. I throughly enjoy Paracosm, largely because of how gorgeously produced it is and how it's driving him further away from the staples of chillwave/how chillwave should sound. I think the whole idea you presented that "there’s not a lot to make you believe that he genuinely finds these sounds beautiful without some sort of winking hipness" summed up a lot of Within and Without in my opinion, although I do enjoy most of that record still. Songs like "Echoes" and "Far Away" didn't work in my opinion because of the '80s cheesiness getting overbearing and his droning voice making it a bit too close to aimless, ambient music. At least on here, even if the lyrics are a bit questionable, there's a sense of more emotion and more sounds, most of which didn't really feel unnecessary or flashy to me. At the least, it's a good record for bike riding and definitely is a perfect album for summer in my book.

While certainly not one of the best releases this year, I wholeheartedly disagree with this review. It's a tad unfair, especially with the recurrence of the "silly" adjective. I guess I just don't see where you're coming from. To everyone prematurely dismissing this album because of this review, I'd say it's still definitely worth checking out.